Published/Revised February 21, 2018 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Russian River Cruise: Arriving in St Petersburg
Read Part I of My Very Russian River Cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg here.
The Zosima Shashkov slipped into her berth at St. Petersburg, the northern Russian capital, during the night. The St Petersburg cruise port lies a few miles outside the city center but on the River Neva that winds through the city, so I awoke early to see the view. I ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised January 3, 2018 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

My Very Russian River Cruise - Part I
My adventure in Russia in 2017 began many decades ago as I began to read about Peter the Great, the famed tsar of All the Russias in the 1600s, and Catherine the Great, a century later. Their autocratic rules and visions for their vast empire captivated me. As I read more about them, I knew by 1980 that a visit to St. Petersburg must top my A-list.
I found ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised November 15, 2017 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

“Yalla! Yalla!”
Moroccan Cooking School
I was hungry. My feet ached after three hours in the Moroccan cooking school’s stifling kitchen after we returned from shopping in the Fes medina with bags full of ingredients. Earlier, Lahcen Beqqi, a Moroccan chef who had worked in kitchens worldwide, grinned at me as he strode into Dar Anebar, the riad or guest house where I was staying in ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised July 6, 2016 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Like the first monks and today’s travelers, I first glimpse the holy Isle of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides from the sea. This birthplace of Celtic Christianity has attracted the faithful for nearly 1500 years and I wonder how Iona has drawn so many pilgrims and tourists to such a remote spot. Its enormous appeal is quite out of proportion to its size.The converted trawler, Glen Tarsan, of ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised August 24, 2015 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of time-travel— never into the future, always to the past — but the closest I can achieve without magic is traveling amongst history. The Outer Hebrides of Scotland, the Western Isles, proved one of the best destinations to feed my dreams. . They are empty of soaring Gothic cathedrals and have no teeming cities, but I relished experiencing the unchanged locations ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised August 4, 2015 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

The Twin Otter banks hard and within seconds is skimming low over the sea. The fat tires bounce on hard, still-wet sand, and I breathe again. I step onto the biggest runway I’ve ever seen — the Cockle Strand — and my romance with the Outer Hebrides Isle of Barra, Scotland begins. The airport on the Isle of Barra is the only one in the world with regular flights that follow a schedule ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised August 29, 2017 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

I wave farewell to sunny Akureyri as I fly south to Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital. I’m aware the weather is greyer and wetter there and wonder if I’ll need my rain suit. Its late September, after all. Sure enough it’s raining as I land, and clouds darken when I reach my hotel. Perhaps my good fortune has evaporated after three weeks of sunshine. The tour of Reykjavik this afternoon proves otherwise ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised August 29, 2017 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

The land steams. Volcanoes erupt. Earthquakes rumble. Mud boils. Geysers gush. And, water at 100C to 200C (212F to 392F) pours right out of the earth. Iceland is the only landmass that straddles the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Their junction is called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that runs north-south splitting Iceland in two. The geology is so temperamental because the plates are ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised March 28, 2015 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

I ripped open my package from the Isle of Harris. As I pushed my nose into the fabric, it smelled of lanolin and scratched my face. I had chosen it a month before because its color would forever remind me of the heather, sky, and rock that cover this Hebridean island.The fog was thick as my husband and I awaited the ferry to take us to the most northerly of the Western Isles. This ... Read Full Article

Published/Revised January 19, 2015 By Julie H. Ferguson This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

I knew I’d arrived when my taxi driver said, “Enjoy your wee Hebridean jaunt.” But I was left in no doubt when I discovered tartan carpets and upholstery in my room. Later, I even saw tartan VW vans!In fact, my adventure was not wee at all, but fifteen islands and three weeks long. I began in the south on the Scottish Isle of Arran, an easy drive and ferry ride from Glasgow ... Read Full Article